Centre for Aristotelian Studies and Critical Theory

Dr Andrius Bielskis is the Director of the Centre. He is one of the leading political philosophers and public intellectuals in Lithuania and an internationally recognized scholar in his field. He is Professor of Political Philosophy at Mykolas Romeris University. He is the author of four books (Towards a Post-Modern Understanding of the Political (Palgrave Macmillan, 2005), The Unholy Sacrament. Ideology, Faith, and the Politics of Emancipation (in Lithuanian; Demos, 2014), On the Meaning of Philosophy and Art (in Lithuanian, MRU, 2015), Existence, Meaning, Excellence: Aristotelian Reflection on the Meaning of Life (Routledge, 2017)) and the co-editor of Virtue and Economy (with K. Knight, Ashgate, 2015; Virtue and Economy was awarded the title of the best book of political science in Lithuania in 2015), of Democracy without Labour Movement? (in Lithuanian; Kitos knygos, 2009), Debating with the Lithuanian New Left: Terry Eagleton, Joel Bakan, Alex Demirovic, Urlich Brand (with A. Pažėrė, Vilnius: Demos, 2013), and of many scholarly papers in English, Lithuanian and Greek. He was the principle investigator of the successfully completed research project ‘Structures of Meaning’ funded by the Research Council of Lithuania (2012-2015). He was also an International Onassis Fellow affiliated with the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (November 2017-January 2018), conducting research on Aristotle’s teleology and natural inequalities, especially focusing on Aristotle’s notorious conception of natural slavery.

Dr Povilas Aleksandravičius is an associate professor of Humanities Institute of Mykolas Romeris University and the Head of the Laboratory of Values Research. In 2008, he defended a doctoral thesis Time and Eternity according to Saint Thomas Aquinas and Martin Heidegger at the Institut Catholique de Paris and Université de Poitiers in France. He is the author of several books, the most important is Directions and Future of European Thinking (in Lithuanian, MRU, 2015). His research interests are philosophical anthropology, social philosophy, European identity, relation between philosophy and theology, the philosophical tradition of mysticism, the dynamics of the contemporary thinking and the influence of technologies on it, and the various aspects of globalization.

Dr Egidijus Mardosas is one of Lithuania’s leading experts on contemporary Aristotelianism and, more particularly, the thought of Alasdair MacIntyre. His thesis, defended in June 2017, argues for the emancipatory potential of the MacIntyrean politics of the common good. He is the author of several scholarly papers on Aristotelianism and Alasdair MacIntyre’s political philosophy, including “Marxism and Aristotelian Ethics“ in Filosofija. Sociologija (2016 Nr. 3 (27)). Dr Mardosas took part in Mykolas Romeris University’s research project ‘Structures of Meaning’ funded by the Research Council of Lithuanian and led by Prof. Andrius Bielskis.

Henrikas Žukauskas has submitted his PhD thesis on the theology of Yves Congar at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and awaits his viva to be held in the summer of 2018. In his thesis he argues that the link between human creative and free activity, on the one hand, and the divine activity, on the other hand, is at the core of the theology of Yves Congar. He also engages with Thomas Aquinas and shows its relevance for contemporary thought. In particular, Henrikas is interested in the critical aspects of contemporary theology, including liberation theology, and its implications for both political and ecological theology as well as for social critique. He is the author of several scholarly publications including “Yves Congar: Theologian of the Church” in Communio Viatorum 52 (2010): 106-115.